Presidency Opens Special Account for Money Recovered From Looters

The Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has opened a special account for the money recovered from treasury looters, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, said on Sunday.

The presidency had revealed earlier that N78, 325,354,631.82; $185,119,584.61; £3,508,355.46 and €11, 250 has been recovered from looters in the past year.

“An account has been set up for it and at an appropriate time, what is going to be done with the money will be made public. The amount that is available in that account will be announced and what will be done with the money will be publicly announced,” Sagay said.

He also revealed that the N1.9tn in cash and assets, which had been frozen by the Federal Government, were still under legal contention and thus could not be touched.

“Regarding the funds frozen under the interim forfeiture, the Federal Government can’t touch it for now because certain cases have not been concluded and the forfeiture is interim because technically, the court can order the release to the owners if the occasion demands it but if it goes the other way, there will be a permanent forfeiture order and that is when the properties would accrue to the government and would therefore be used for the benefit of Nigerians,” he said.